CAIRO – Egyptians in their millions danced and partied through the night on Saturday, celebrating the fall of the man who ruled like a pharaoh for 30 years and hoping their army will grant them democracy now Hosni Mubarak is gone.

With intoxicating speed a wave of people power has roared across the biggest Arab nation, just four weeks after Tunisians toppled their own aging strongman. Now, across the Middle East, autocratic rulers are calculating their own chances of survival.

“I am proud to be Egyptian, that’s the only way I can say it,” said Rasha Abu Omar, a call center worker, among the throngs on Cairo’s Tahrir, or Liberation, Square. Eighteen days of rallies there, resisting police assaults and a last-ditch charge by hardliners on camels, had brought undreamt of success.

“We are finally going to get a government we choose,” the 29-year-old Abu Omar added. “Perhaps we will finally get to have the better country we always dreamed of.”

Hours after word flashed out that Mubarak was stepping down and handing over to the army, it was not just Tahrir Square but, it seemed, every street and neighborhood in Cairo, Alexandria and cities and towns across the country that were packed full.

Through the night, fireworks cracked, cars honked under swathes of red, white and black Egyptian flags, people hoisted their children above their heads. Some took souvenir snaps with smiling soldiers on their tanks on city streets.